Advice for First Generation College Students, Interview with Denise Boiko

This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Advice for First Generation College Students, Interview with Denise Boiko. Advice for First Generation College Students, Interview with Denise Boiko I can remember long, long ago when I was ready to start my first college classes. My parents, who both had college degrees, gave me tips for success: * Sit in the front of the room * Keep your pencil in your hand so it, at least, looks like you are taking notes * Visit the professor during office hours and have a question to ask * On exams, first look over the exam so you know how to pace yourself, the answer as many as you can quickly, leave blank things you don't know and go back to those later * Ask for extra credit if you need it * Ask for help if you need it How did my parents know these things? They had been through college, and even taught at college level for a little while. It was insider tips! So I started out the very first day of college better prepared than some of my peers who were the first in their families to go to college. They had to learn all this the hard way. It has long been important to me in my work as a counselor (and in my years as a homeschool advisor), to help first generation college students start off with tools for success. That's why I was excited when Denise Boiko, homeschool advisor and author of Homeschooled & Headed for College, contacted me about her experiences as a first generation college student. Denise agreed to share advice for first generation college students so that they can survive and thrive...and the good news, ALL college students will benefit from her advice. Denise homeschooled her students all the way through graduation. Then one went on to graduate from Stanford University and one from University of Southern California (one in Engineering and the other in Medicine and now a pediatrician). Denise (like the 7Sisters) continued to serve her homeschool community as teacher of local group classes and academic advisor. Her experience led her to write her book Homeschooled & Headed for College. Denise was the first high school graduate in her family to go to college. She came from a hard-working farming family who had never needed college. Denise loved learning and wanted to go to college. She had the support of her parents, which was helpful to her. She found out that college is different from high school and that she was needing to survival skills that other students (whose parents went to college before them) already knew. Denise makes it a point to share the college-success tips for first generation college students: Prepare during high school * Start during high school, if possible, by talking to others who are in college or have been to college. (Ask about their college experiences.) * Pick up strong classes for your transcript * Honors-level courses * Course with local homeschool groups or online * AP if you can * Dual enrollment where possible * Look at resources to support first-generation students * Matt Rubinoff's Strive for College organization * Imfirst.org